


good night but not goodbye

by haftsuka



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Friendship/Love, M/M, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Nonbinary Character, Prom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28166142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haftsuka/pseuds/haftsuka
Summary: Anticipation electrifies Night Raven College's campus as prom night draws ever closer. Before they run out of time, Ace and Deuce try their best to get Yuu to be their date. But a sudden reveal turns what was supposed to be the best night of their lives into a disaster.
Relationships: Ace Trappola/Yuu | Player, Deuce Spade/Yuu | Player
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	1. Opening

**Author's Note:**

> yuu is nonbinary (it's not really mentioned in text, just making it clear here). wanted to show some love to peeps who enjoy yuus of other genders as well.
> 
> i'm working on a series with an original female prefect but i'm really nervous about it so i'm procrastinating LOL

## Year 3, June XX

### Heartslabyul Dorms

Ace is laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He’d taken out his tuxedo from his closet and put it over his torso to gauge how it looked on him in the mirror, but only ended up tossing it onto his sheets and throwing himself right beside it. The more he thinks about himself actually wearing it, the more that the butterflies in his stomach start fluttering around, making him feel unlike himself.

That’s when his phone buzzes in his pocket.

He lifts himself up, bed springs squeaking underneath him as he fishes for the device and pulls it out. His screen is lit up with a message.

Deuce   
  
Yuu is going home tonight.   
  


It’s five words that stare soulessly up at Ace from his smartphone screen. Five seemingly harmless words that send Ace’s train of thought screeching to a deadly halt.

Deuce went to the library with Yuu to study. Is that where they had found out?

 _Fine, go be a pair of little goody two-shoes_ , he’d said. Now he wishes he hadn’t.

Ace doubts the meaning of the word ‘home’ for a beat. After all, hasn’t Yuu’s home always been Ramshackle Dorm? Hasn’t Ramshackle been the place they’ve eaten, slept, went back to every day after school? Isn’t it the place that they’ve put so much love and care into making _feel_ like home? Ramshackle Dorm is one spot on campus he knows he can visit to be greeted with a smile by the person who holds his heart in one hand.

 _Yuu is going home tonight_. That implies that Yuu belongs to a place far away, somewhere that Ace doesn’t know outside of anecdotes. A place that Ace can never reach.

Yuu is going home _tonight_. And that means that before midnight, before the last set is played, before the last streamer comes down, before only the last dregs of party punch are left, Yuu is leaving Twisted Wonderland.

Yuu is going home on prom night.

* * *

“Are you really going to—” Deuce trips up on his words. He can’t seem to get his voice to scrape through the lump in his throat, so he simply raises a hand to his mouth to hide his quivering lips. He’s never prepared himself for a situation like this. Deuce has learned to overcome most things through sheer effort, but this is something he has now been thrown into without even getting a chance to rehearse. It is making him a wreck.  
  
Main Street rolls out like a red carpet before the pair. The statues of the Great Seven cast long shadows over the path that send them into the dark for a moment. Yuu’s footsteps clack over the rock until they slow to a halt in the light, looking back at the shadowed Deuce. 

"Deuce, I have to go," Yuu says. “It’s the place I belong. I can’t use magic. I barely managed to squeak my way through these past three years.”

Both students and seasonal visitors alike pass them by with only a glance, excitement buzzing from their whole being. In comparison, all the energy seems to have been sucked out of Deuce. His vision tilts as he feels the ground give from underneath him, reality slipping from his very hands like water through a drain. The vertigo that hits him makes Yuu’s face seem that of someone he’d never met before, someone that would look his way and see a stranger instead of their best friend.

In summer the temperature on the school campus tends to crawl up a bit. Now, though, the sun begins to bow from the horizon, a chill in the air pricking needles at Deuce’s cheeks. Or is it the heat that’s flowing to his face, gathering behind his eyes? He keeps walking. Taking long strides, he passes Yuu.  
  
"I really treasure all the time we've spent together, you, me, and Ace," Yuu calls out to him. "Grim too. I promise I won't forget about you guys."

When he turns his head, he can’t bear to look at them dead on.  
  
“Are you still going to prom?” Deuce asks. He hates how frail his voice sounds as it catches in his throat.

Yuu laughs at that. They close the distance between them and Deuce and puts a friendly hand on his shoulder from behind. They lean forward and peer up into his face, the biggest smile he’d seen from them yet rooted on their face.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” they say.

## Year 3, April XX

### Heartslabyul Dorms

Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade are near exact opposites, but they have two things in common. One is that they are both junior Heartslabyul students about to end their third year at Night Raven College. The second is that they both have been brought to their knees by an affection for their friend they’d never seen coming until it hit them.

Ace is the first to find out that the other plans on asking Yuu out to the dance. In their shared room, he sees Deuce anxiously scribbling away. He scrawls away at the paper for a few minutes, furiously scratches at his head, then crumples it up and tosses it onto the floor to join the rest of the pile of discarded scribbles. The two other roommates are laying on their beds, watching a television show on one of their smartphones, eyes directed in a completely opposite direction. Without making a sound so Deuce doesn’t see him do it, Ace sneaks over and picks up one of the crumpled balls and flattens it out to read. And he raises his eyebrows.

Ace already had an inkling of how Deuce felt for their friend in the first place. He’s a rather easy one to read and Ace is the only one in their trio who’s noticed how often Deuce’s eyes are following Yuu. At least Ace is aware of how much space Yuu is occupying in his brain. He heaves a sigh on the inside. He’s got not just one air-headed friend, but _two_. And he’s—yuck—in love with one of them. Ace thinks that his predicament deserves a little sympathy.

This is what the crumpled up paper says:

> Hi,
> 
> ~~I was wondring~~ ~~Do u have time after school~~ How are you doing? I hope you are eating all right and getting propper exersize. I alreaddy know that you are but I might as well ask.
> 
> ~~I wanted to ask if you have a date to the prom~~ Do you have plans for prom? ~~If yes, I’d like to~~ Let me know.
> 
> ~~Yours,~~
> 
> Deuce

The window curtains flutter as a warm breeze filters into the room. The scrap of paper shakes in Ace’s hand, though not from the wind. It slips from his fingers to the floor as his roommates and Deuce alike both start from what they’re doing to watch Ace utterly lose his shit. He busts out in maniacal laughter, an arm braced over his torso and the other extended to point a mocking finger at Deuce. All the white noise you’d hear in the dorm seems to fall away from Ace’s loud performance.

“You _suck_ at love letters!” Ace cries out before submitting to another fit of laughter that bounces off the room’s walls.

Ace pauses midway to heave a few breaths. He coughs, trying to calm himself, but the hilarity of the moment makes his voice wobble as he talks to Deuce. “’ _I hope you are eating all right_ ’? This isn’t asking Yuu out, this is something you’d get from your mom in the mail. Nice work on the spelling though, it’s way better than two years ago.”

Deuce knits his eyebrows tight. “It’s not a love letter, it’s an invite, like you said,” he says.

“An invite to prom,” Ace cuts in. “Close enough.”

The other two roommates start excitedly whispering to each other at the sudden development. Deuce, not noticing, swivels forward, glaring once more at the paper in his hands. 

“Is it really too motherly?” he asks. 

The malicious intent in Ace’s earlier remark totally and utterly flies over his head. Normally, he’d pick up on the fact Ace is insulting him regardless of whether he understood how Ace was doing it or not. Taken off guard by the genuine question, Ace clears his throat, temporarily robbed of words.

He walks up to Deuce’s desk and takes a seat on the edge of his bed. His pointer finger lands on the paper and Deuce shifts away, a question plain on his face. Ace ignores it and simply begins talking. 

“Get rid of the ‘hi,’” Ace says. A mask of seriousness falls over his features as he shifts his gaze to look Deuce in the eye. “Make it straight forward. And don’t ask Yuu if they have plans. You want their plans to be a date with you.”

Deuce’s expression warps into that of mild disgust. “You’re helping me?”

Ace grinds a fist into Deuce’s head, face reddening with fury. Afterwards, he sighs and gets to his feet. “Fine, don’t take my advice then, Deuce, master of romance.”

Deuce, a hand on his abused head, grumbles in Ace’s direction. “Thanks.”

Ace’s back still faces Deuce. He raises a hand and flutters it in the air. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he says. He turns his head and smiles crookedly. “Oh, and? Better write that letter quick.”

Deuce shifts in his chair. He’d been around Ace enough to know exactly what look he has on his face when he’s up to mischief. For a long second, he reconsiders asking for the reason. Something tells him he doesn’t want to know. His curiosity wins out, though, and he ventures the question while clenching his hands into fists to still the shaking.

“Why?” he asks.

Ace’s smile broadens as if he were already ready to answer. He puts a finger to his lips like he’s sharing a secret. “Because I’m asking Yuu out too.”

Ace sees the change on Deuce’s face right away. His eyes widen to saucers, his mouth falling slightly open. He scans Ace’s face for the slightest trace of a lie and he doesn’t find any. His gaze falls to the floor as he knits his eyebrows tight. He opens his mouth to speak, but he’s interrupted by Ace slamming both his hands into his roommates’ bed. 

“Get back to your damn baking show already!” Ace shouts, cheeks burning. The pair just laugh at him.


	2. Ace and Deuce Being Dumbasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! been struggling a bit while writing lately (if you're following my twitter @haftsuka you've probably seen this) but working on wrapping this up

## Year 3, April XX

### Hallway

Ace has been waiting for the right opportunity to ask Yuu out. He’s got a steady head on his shoulders and he’s socially capable enough to scope out just when would be perfect - thing is, that moment hasn’t ever come. At least for now. And that’s all Deuce’s fault, whether he means to or not.

While Ace has been gauging the situation, Deuce has been trying this entire time to also ask Yuu out. To him this means hanging around them day and evening as much as humanly possible. He still hasn’t managed to pop the damn question, and it’s starting to irk Ace just watching it go on. He’s sure that if Riddle weren’t in year four and away on his internship, he would agree with Ace for a change. At first, Ace thought he could maybe make use of Deuce’s stupidity to take the reins and get Yuu to agree to be his prom date before Deuce, but with how often the two are stuck shoulder-to-shoulder these days, that hasn’t been a possibility. 

Ace is clear-headed, charming, and clever. He isn’t one to get overemotional and make sudden outbursts. So even if he is incredibly frustrated watching Deuce act like a middle schooler with his hand hovering over one of Yuu’s shoulders and words hanging off his tongue, he isn’t going to—god damn it, no, Ace has had enough.

Ace, who’s walking to the right of Yuu, slows his feet and grabs Deuce by the collar, essentially yanking him backwards. Yuu, who has their eyes on a dozing Grim, doesn’t notice until Deuce is shouting as he struggles to break free from Ace’s grip.

“Let go, bastard!” he hollers.

Ace shakes his head and smiles in Yuu’s direction, waving a hand and spouting lies like a spring breeze. “Forgot, dorm lead wanted us to help clean the hedgehogs’ cages ASAP. Some lazyass skipped out on his work and the lead’s got all the first-years in a police lineup trying to find who to chew out.”

Horror is written clear on Yuu’s face at the casual statement from Ace. After Riddle graduated his third year, he somehow found an even stricter student to take his place as dorm lead. Ace and Deuce haven’t challenged him to take his place, though they have had to beat some sense into the new dorm lead in the past. It’s made him overlook a lot of the rule-breaking the former first-year duo has done which they find just fine and peachy. If they were dorm lead, they wouldn’t be able to visit Ramshackle so often.

“Go ahead, guys,” Yuu hurriedly replies. “Me and Grim will walk ourselves home.”

Ace nods and keeps waving with one hand, the other covering Deuce’s mouth as he tries to argue with him. When Yuu is completely out of sight, Ace frees Deuce and takes a step back. Deuce is on him in an instant.

“What was that for, huh?!” Deuce shouts, fist bundled in Ace’s lapel. 

“What was that, you goddamn chicken?” Ace bites right back, a hand closed over Deuce’s wrist. “You’re getting in the way of me and Yuu because you can’t hand over a stupid letter.”

The tips of Deuce’s ears begin to burn as the blood rushes to his head. He lets go of Ace, clearing his throat. “I’m waiting for the right time. I’ve been—”

“Well, news flash, dumbass,” Ace cuts in. “The right time has already come and gone for you. It’s my turn, so get out of my way.”

The atmosphere around the Heartslabyul pair goes taut as a tightrope. With both exams and prom coming up to mark the end of their time at Night Raven, tensions have been high. It just so happens that Ace knows how to press Deuce’s buttons, and Deuce does the same thing back without even meaning to - something that can only happen because they’ve known each other for years.

Deuce’s face starts reddening, this time from anger. He squares up to Ace and pushes him on the shoulders. “Who said you had a turn? If you haven’t asked them out yet, it’s your issue, not mine.”

Ace nearly loses his footing from the sudden force, but manages to steady himself to throw his palms right back out at Deuce with all his might. “Who said you could push me?”

It’s no surprise that Ace’s attempt at upsetting Deuce’s balance doesn’t actually knock him over. He has more muscle on than Ace does, and those muscles are now being flexed as Deuce stretches to, without speaking a word, tackle Ace to the ground. Ace goes down croaking like a toad as Deuce’s weight crushes his torso. 

That’s when whatever reason that Ace had left totally flies out of his mind and is replaced with blind rage. He’s being tackled in a hallway by a meat-for-brains. Is he going to take it lying down? Absolutely not.

Ace grabs his Magipen and summons the biggest gust of wind he can manage, directing all of it toward Deuce. Deuce, who had shifted to hover over Ace before dealing any real damage, goes flying. The candles that illuminate the hallway get caught in the gust and roll on the ground, fire now extinguished. The hallway sinks into darkness. There isn’t anyone in their near vicinity at the moment, but the ruckus is enough to bring the attention of students in the nearby rooms who were either doing club activities or studying. Ace hears whispering behind the creaking doors. But Ace isn’t in the right mind to pay them any attention.

Ace jumps on the floored Deuce and they begin wrestling on the ground. Spectators start shouting as they tell others to come look. By the time a teacher comes to break up the fight, Deuce’s hair is sticking up all over the place and Ace’s tie is lying discarded on the ground. Both are heaving breaths as they exchange a glance.

“Let’s ask Yuu to go with both of us,” they say in defeated unison.

## Year 3, May XX

### Outside Night Raven College

At the very top of the sprawling stairs, someone is holding up a sign, surrounded by a crowd of other students. On the sign is one word and a question mark: “Prom?”

The chatter is relatively even but it grows louder as a pair of students reach the top of the steps. One looks at the other with confusion, but the other simply smiles while breaking the question. 

“Would you go to prom with me?” he asks.

The other half of the pair blinks, eyes wide. “Sure,” he replies.

Ace, Deuce, Yuu and Grim all pass by this scene. Their chatter peters out as their eyes follow the source of the commotion. Ace and Deuce meet eyes for a moment, exchanging a meaningful glance. Their pace slows. Yuu, Grim in their arms, keeps walking without realizing and talks just low enough to not be heard by the people in question.

“Man, I’d hate to be asked to be asked out like that,” they say, a smile on their face. “It’s too public.”

Ace and Deuce freeze. Yuu stops after a few paces and swirls around to look for their friends. 

“Are you coming?” they ask.

For a long moment, Ace and Deuce look at Yuu, open mouthed. Deuce’s hand is frozen mid-air on its way to his bag while Ace is stuffing something inside his. Yuu tilts their head, a quizzical look on their face. Yuu heard rumors that the two were caught fist fighting in the hallway a couple weeks ago, but they seemed to have gotten along in recent days again without Yuu’s interference. Yuu has no idea why the pair might be acting strange now. Grim is looking at the entrance, grumbling about wanting more breakfast. Time starts flowing like normal again when Ace puts his free hand over his mouth and yawns.

“Alright, alright,” he replies while pacing to line up with Yuu again. Deuce follows suit.

The school days flies by until sixth period, which for Crewel is now the period that he teaches the third-years of Night Raven College. It’s vaguely nostalgic for the trio - they’d had him for first period in their first year at the school, though he’s no longer their homeroom teacher. When they step in, it’s the heat that hits their faces first. Second, it’s the sound of bubbling cauldrons. As Crewel always has the cauldrons preheated at the right temperature for their lesson for that day, it’s sometimes possible to guess what kind of work they’ll be diving into.

Deuce peeks into the bubbling waters as he and the other two stride to their usual cauldron. “Is it a fast-acting agent?”

Crewel smiles broadly from across his desk, picking up his riding crop to start the school day. “Very good, mutt.”

Ace rolls his eyes at the exchange. In Crewel’s class Deuce looks to him like a dog wagging its tail. The pair have attained quite the rapport over the years as Deuce has come to Crewel for help studying and Crewel’s satisfaction with Deuce’s growth became more and more apparent.

It doesn’t take long until all the students have filed inside the class. The chatter dies down when the school bell rings - nobody is willing to test Crewel’s patience, even if he is more lenient than say, Trein. A little later in class, Ace gives Deuce a glance before stepping away from his cauldron to approach Crewel.

“Hey, can I use the bathroom?” he asks. “I spilled something on my pants and I need to go change.”

Crewel gives Ace a once-over. “Where is the stain?”

Ace sighs, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s an invisible solution.”

“It really itches,” he adds.

He clicks his tongue and turns his back to Ace to face the other student he was talking to again. “Go, then.”

Ace gives Deuce one more glance before grabbing his bag and walking out the door. Ace can feel Crewel’s glare burn into the back of his head as he goes out but the teacher doesn’t tell him to leave it behind. Deuce pulls his bag over his shoulder in a rush and chases after him. He catches eyes with Yuu across the room while doing so. They smile and wave a sleeping Grim’s paw in his direction. Deuce nearly trips over his feet as he gives an over exaggerated nod and steps outside, heart beating wildly in his chest.

“What’s that look on your face for?” Ace remarks as soon as the door shuts behind Deuce. He’s leaning against the wall of the corridor, one hand hooked on the strap of his bag. 

“Nothing,” Deuce replies, voice catching.

“Yuu, huh?” Ace says and sighs. “Bet you just met eyes with them and lost it. Figures. Well, let’s get going.”

Ace eases himself off the wall and breaks into a walk deeper into the corridor. It leads to a dead end, but there’s an entrance to the fourth floor bathrooms there. Deuce, question marks floating above his head, catches up to him in long strides. 

“In here,” Ace prods Deuce and they both go in. Inside, the bathroom is lit up with green candlelight and clean as a wick. The tiles don’t have a speck of dirt on them. In general, it’s an unused part of the school as the majority of the bathroom-goers will opt for the one by the cafeteria or closer to the stairways instead of at the dead end of a hallway.

Without hesitation, Ace pops open his bag and rolls out a piece of poster paper. On it, a single word is written.

> _**PROM?** _

The word gets split in half soon after, however, as Ace rips the thing apart. He tries to grind his heel into it, too, but instead almost falls on his ass as the paper slips on the tile. Somehow, he manages to regain his balance. He recovers with a cough and looks at Deuce.

“What’s the game plan now?” he asks. Ace and Deuce had compromised by deciding to ask Yuu out together, but now that plan’s been shredded to pieces both literally and figuratively. 

“I say we break the question after walking them to Ramshackle tonight,” Deuce says.

“I hate to say it, but that’s not a bad idea,” Ace says. “But just asking? We need something better than that.”

Deuce hums and puts a hand to his chin. “I saw some sophomores researching illusory magic in the library the other day.”

Ace frowns. “And that relates to this how?”

Deuce smiles victoriously. “Because we can use it to ask Yuu out to prom.”


	3. It's You I Like

## Year 3, May XX (Later in the Day)

### Ramshackle Dorm

From the start of the day, Ace and Deuce have been acting strange. Yuu begins to doubt that they had ever truly made up after whatever fight they must have had, but that wouldn’t explain why they’ve been shoulder-to-shoulder and whispering to each other this whole time. Normally, Yuu would be walking lined up between the both of them. Instead, they’ve been trailing behind Yuu and hugging their bags close to their bodies. 

They’d ran into each other after Yuu left class early. Normally they leave their alchemy class at 3PM when the last bell rings, but Crewel kicked them out before the class begin making the last concoction of the day.

“Anything happen?” Deuce asked, knitting his eyebrows tight. He’s rather sensitive to Yuu being treated different from the others simply because of their magiclessness.

“It’s ‘cause of how specialized the third unit is this semester. You two weren’t there so you probably don’t know, but the last lesson was one of the more intensive ones,” Yuu explains. “Normally I’d be wearing the, what? The special goggles that kept me safe through the final exams last year, right? But apparently since I don’t have magic running through me, it doesn’t give the same effect as the other students here.”

After chatting for a little, they part their separate ways with promises to meet up to walk back to Ramshackle Dorm together.

With the end of winter break long past and any hints of the season melted with spring, the sun has stayed strung in the sky far longer than in months past. But with the time that Ace and Deuce have spent at their clubs and Yuu has spent studying, enough time has past for it to be almost sundown.

Before long, the shadow of Ramshackle Dorm hangs over them as they slip through the iron wrought gates. When Yuu turns around to face them, Ace smiles, a hand up and body language natural as ever. 

“So you said you don’t like public invites to prom,” Ace says. “What do you like then?”

Yuu raises an eyebrow. Does the question have to do with their sudden change in behavior? The suspicion crawls up on the Prefect and they cross their arms and put a finger to their chin performatively. 

“First of all, I don’t want an invite from just anyone,” they say.

Ace and Deuce exchange a look before turning back to Yuu. 

“Who would you want it from?” Deuce asks, face tense.

Yuu looks at Ace in the eye, then Deuce. They smile. “From a close friend.”

Ace’s eyebrows knit tight, turning the reply in his mind to see if there could be any other meaning. When he doesn’t find any, though, realization dawns on Ace’s face until his mouth quite literally falls open. Dyed in the red-orange light of the sun dipping down in the horizon, Ace’s expression brightens quite visibly. Meanwhile, Deuce merely blinks curiously.

Ace rushes forward and takes Yuu by the hand before taking off. “We’ve got something to show you.”

Deuce, left behind both literally and figuratively, has to break out into a jog to catch up and take Yuu’s other hand as they speed their way towards Ramshackle Dorm. They pound their feet over the stone path before finally stopping to catch their breath at the entrance to the building. In a smooth movement, Ace leads Yuu to sit on the porch. His hand slips from theirs, slides up their arm and lifts from their shoulder as he steps back to be in full view, Deuce standing next to him. 

“You’re gonna wanna sit for this,” he says before nodding over at Deuce.

Deuce, flustered, unhooks his bag from his shoulder and starts rummaging through it. Meanwhile, Ace unclips his Magipen from his jacket pocket and begins waving it around. He starts shaking his head, humming a tune. When he opens his mouth, a song spills from his lips and fills the evening air:

> _The things you love, the things you just can’t stand  
>  I know every last one of ‘em_

It’s no surprise that even on its own, Ace’s voice is a wonder. He’d gotten vocal practice from Vil back in the day and he’s never missed the chance to flaunt it any chance he gets around the people who won’t tease him for putting effort into it.

Yuu’s eyes shift over to Deuce when he pulls a fabric from his bag that flutters in the air, whatever little light left in the sky catching on the glitter spilling from its surface. Deuce opens his mouth, singing to finish the stanza with vocal talent that rivals Ace’s:

> _And hey, it’s you that’s on my mind all the time, day and night_

The glitter seems to float in the air before making its slow descent. With it as a filter, Deuce’s smile seems to be unearthly. There’s a twinkle in Yuu’s eyes as they wait to see what unfolds. When the twinkling speckles fall and hit the ground, they explode into miniature images. A rose unfurling into full bloom, a hedgehog twitching its nose, a flamingo flapping its wings. They all briefly glitter in the air before exploding into little sparkles that are finally puffed out as they fall to the rocks. 

“What do you think?” Ace asks, a confident smile on his face. 

“It’s pretty,” Yuu says excitedly. “Just when I think I’ve gotten used to this world, I get to see things like this. It always blows my mind.”

“That was a warm-up,” Ace replies with a mischievous look. He rolls up his sleeves and begins waving his Magipen with wider, more furious movements. “Don’t get sleepy just yet.”

A wind storm starts flapping up the sparkles that Yuu had thought had gone out, lifting them into the air to glow like fireflies in the night sky. As they do, the sounds of chimes reaches Yuu’s ears. The glitter presses together into a cloud that is then manipulated into letters. One by one, the letters Y, U, and a second U are lined up next to each other in the sky.

“Deuce!” Ace shouts.

Deuce, spurred on by Ace’s cue, tosses a handful of rose petals in the air before grabbing hold of his own Magipen. The rose petals begin to shift between red and white as they float, suspended until lifted up into Ace’s wind current. The letters in the air begin to shift until they form a completely different word: PROM?

Deuce waves his Magipen once more as Yuu is frozen watching the show. As he does, the petals in the air begin to multiply until each becomes a rose bud of its own, filling the sky with red and white blossoms. When Ace lowers his arm, it sends them raining down around Yuu. Briefly Deuce falls out of sight behind the waterfall of flowers, but when he comes back into view he’s in a suit and tie, a bouquet of white roses in one hand. When Yuu looks to Ace, he’s in a similar suit with a bouquet of red roses.

“It’s a little over-the-top, but might as well go all the way if we’re doing it, right? You did say I looked good in a suit,” Ace says, face slightly flushed. The red leaves his cheeks, though, as he tosses his bouquet toward Yuu with his usual mischievous expression. He laughs as Yuu scrambles to catch it.

Deuce anxiously looks to Yuu as they’d been silent the whole show. When he does, he’s taken off guard by the teary eyes peeking out from behind the bouquet. Mouth half-open, Yuu looks between him and Ace before giving them a standing ovation. 

Deuce reaches out and grabs Yuu’s free hand, pressing his bouquet into it. Decked out from head to toe, Deuce looks like a completely different person. He opens his mouth to speak when glittery powder becomes falling away from him like encrusted sand. What had once been a suit falls away, returning him to his usual uniform. When Deuce catches Yuu looking at his clothes, he finally looks down and notices. He forces on a smile and lowers himself so he’s face to face with Yuu.

“We borrowed some fairy dust,” Deuce says in a low voice, as if sharing a secret. “You don’t like public displays, but we wanted to put on a show. Prom only happens once in your life.”

Ace walks up to Yuu’s side. He’s rolling his eyes. 

“Lay off the cheese,” he grumbles. He looks down at Yuu, brushing a petal from Yuu’s hair with a finger. It disintegrates into dust as it’s caught in the evening breeze - though the flower bouquets, apparently real, remain. “He’s not off the mark though.”

The pair fall silent as they watch Yuu for any reaction. It takes a bit for the Prefect to realize the duo is waiting for their response. Their eyes bounce between Ace and Deuce, mouth flapping open and closed as they try to get words out. 

What ends up falling from their lips is: “I can’t do anything like that show in return for you guys.”

A sharp prick of pain hits Yuu’s forehead and they flinch. Ace, successfully having flicked their forehead, steps back and glares at them. “We’re not looking for anything in return. What’s your answer?"

“Am I being asked to go with one of you? Or both?”

The question hits a sore spot for the Heartslabyul pair, apparently, as they both look at each other with dour expressions. Ace turns his head and Deuce rubs his arm. 

“I wouldn’t mind if you choose to go with me,” Deuce begins before Ace stomps on his foot. He howls then coughs, clearing his throat. “It’d be better if you went with both of us.”

Yuu takes Deuce’s hand into theirs. Deuce startles, face turning tomato red at the contact. 

Leaning into Ace’s shoulder, Yuu smiles and says, “I’d love to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song ace and deuce very cheesily sing is from one of eve's albums (interpreted the lyrics into english). feel free to check out the whole song for yourself: どうしようもないくらいに君が好き


	4. One of THOSE Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks a million haya_dono for taking a look at some of the more technical stuff i pulled out of my ass for this chapter! they are very smart AND a talented writer! definitely check out their stuff. (if there's anything in here that still doesn't make sense that's completely on me.)

## Year 3, June XX

### Banquet Hall

Deuce’s mind is knee-deep in memories from May as he strings up ribbon and tinsel along the walls of what is normally the cafeteria. Deuce accidentally waves his Magipen too far remembering Yuu’s hands over his and yanks the ribbon off the wall, causing the thumbtacks pinning it down to go flying. He hears Yuu’s voice call after him, likely to check if he’s okay. He dramatically nods his head, already twirling his Magipen to pick everything up in a miniature whirlwind and start over again.

There’s only an hour more of preparations for prom before the students are free to roam and the place is buzzing with people excited for those sixty minutes to come and go. He’s taken the task of taking care of the final touches on the wall decorations before the area finally opens to the public. It’s detailed work, something he isn’t the best at, and with everything on his mind he’s had to take everything out and try again several times already. Considering that nobody has offered to take his place yet, there’s probably a lot of other last little bits of work that needs to be done. He sighs and closes his eyes.

Deuce finds it a mystery why Yuu is able to act so calm when their whole world, quite literally, is changing tonight. In one of Deuce’s earliest fights in middle school, he remembers drawing back a fist and after the impact, seeing his knuckles spattered with blood. The instant chill that hit him—starting from the ends of his fingers and stopping at the crown of his head—was the same chill that struck him when Yuu delivered him the Earth-shaking news just before arriving at the cafeteria. It’s what he feels when he’s watching the reins on a situation slip from his grip in real time.

His mind was blank at the time. Remembering the moment, it goes blank once more. 

He blinks. Finally, he realizes tears have blurred his vision as they roll down his cheeks. He wipes them away roughly with a sleeve and goes back to his work.

* * *

Somehow, the excitement that seems to be rolling over the campus doesn’t evaporate even as the students have to roll up their sleeves and get through the last spurt of hard work to prepare the cafeteria for students and visitors alike. Among the handful of events that Night Raven College opens its gates for, prom, second to perhaps Halloween, is one of the most anticipated. Unlike Halloween, though, there isn’t any individual dorm work - instead, the work is divided by year. The room that is going to be the main hall for prom, the cafeteria, has been left to the juniors for decoration and setup. The normally busy cafeteria has been cleared out save for a dozen or so heads busy with their work. The mouth-watering smell of frying meat permeates the air and overwrites the smells from that morning’s breakfast, the telltale sound of clinking pots and pans ringing out from the cafeteria kitchen as ghosts prepare scrumptious meals in large volumes from behind the shuttered counter window. 

The juniors this year are planning a surprise the likes of which has never been seen before, and though a type of senioritis has pushed their estimated finish time to mere hours before actual prom, energy is high. This is one of the few events where the entertainment that Night Raven College so thoroughly lacks comes bounding forth in the form of student-led performances, music, and decorations. It’s one of the reasons that they’ve raised a platform in the middle of the cafeteria.

When Yuu breaks their gaze from Deuce’s back and opens one of the boxes for the stage setup, they find what can only be an assortment of ingredients for concocting potions. There are flasks filled with different colored liquids lined up next to glass jars labeled with a steady hand. Yuu lifts one to examine it, but has it taken out of their hand after a shadow falls over them. They look up and find Ace hovering over their head. 

Eyes squinted, he takes a close look at the labeling before shaking his head and setting it on the nearby table. “What is this? Did our boxes get mix up with the alchemy club’s or something?”

Yuu shakes their head and knits their eyebrows tight. Their hand brushes over the contents of the box to pick up a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it reveals tiny print with a title in bold letters, **“STAGE SHOW RECIPE NO. 4.”**

Ace hums aloud at the sight, leaning closer to get a good look. “Oh, I guess that’s part of the new illusion they were planning this year? The teachers wanted to go for something traditional over digital this year to show off that we’re a magic school, I guess.”

Yuu’s eyes are glittering at the prospect. They’re likely remembering the show they’d been given a month back. A month back, before the Earth-shattering news that they had delivered to Ace and Deuce last night. Somehow, time continues to march on as normal even when the ground underneath Ace’s feet seems to be falling in.

Ace opens his mouth and calls Yuu’s name. He doesn’t know for what—to say anything, really. _Are you really going to go? All of the classes and hours you were studying, all that time we spent together, you were just waiting for the chance to go home?_

They look up at him but before he gets the chance to speak, there’s a buzz from their phone. They pull it out and swipe at the screen before looking back up at Ace. “Magicam notification. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Ace replies. He picks up another one of the glass and stares at it. Inside is a dark blue liquid, flakes of gold swirling inside and glittering like stars in the Milky Way. ‘B612’ is written in small letters on a strip of duct tape attached to it. “We used this one last semester, remember?” 

He leans over to show the label to Yuu. “One of the ingredients in the potions we studied during the volatiles course.”

B612 is the term for whatever substance it was that they were making use of during class, the generic version of a patented solution that students really only learn about in the context of whatever they are making. 

Yuu takes it from Ace’s hand to hold it closer to their face. They nod solemnly. “It’s stable on its own, but for whatever weird reason, mix it with anything from a baobab tree and I end up having to evacuate the room.”

Ace snorts at the last half of the sentence. Yuu tries to participate in alchemy as much as possible, but there are times where they just can’t afford to be in the room because of the risk. The magic in Night Raven College students’ body provides a kind of barrier to the more powerful concoctions they made, but Yuu doesn’t have any of that. 

“You gonna be alright playing with your little chemistry kit?” Ace asks, fingers twitching.

Yuu has been around Ace long enough to know what he’s asking. They shake their head. “I can do this on my own. I have the recipe and I have goggles. See?”

Ace rolls his eyes at the sight of Yuu proudly holding out the pair of goggles they fished out from the box. “Okay. Call me if you royally mess up.”

Yuu huffs a laugh and turns their head back toward the floor as their hands get right to work in putting together the mixture for the illusions show. Ace figures that the concoction will be one that reacts only to magic, so it should be safe for Yuu to be handling it. He catches Deuce out of the corner of his eye and, throwing his hands in his pockets, breaks out in a walk in his direction. He weaves past the meandering pairs of students that are rushing around to make sure that every surface in the room is decked out with some form of a decorative star, glittery cloth, or fairy light. 

“Hey,” he calls out and leans onto the stepladder Deuce is on. Deuce looks down on him from above as one would an insect. 

“Quit with that look,” Ace shouts, slapping the ladder and making it shudder.

“Why don’t you go and do your work?” Deuce suggests while steadying himself. 

Ace squints up at Deuce’s face. He looks away underneath the scrutiny. Ace sighs while sitting on the second lowest rung of the stepladder. “Already wrapped it up. Can’t help that I’m good with my hands, you know?”

There’s a heavy silence that falls between the pair with the words they’ve left unspoken. Ace absently taps his nails on the metal beneath him. Deuce feels the anxious rhythm when his hand meets the highest rung to support himself as he reaches out his arm to guide the last thumbtack into the wall. Eyes still on the banner hung smack right in the middle of all the ribbons he’d just strung up, Deuce opens his mouth.

“How’s Yuu?” he asks.

“Same as always,” Ace says. The malice that edges into his voice surprises even him. He clears his throat, hand nonchalantly scratching the back of his neck. “They’re working on a little science project.”

Deuce sets down his Magipen. His forehead creases. “On their own?”

“Yeah,” Ace replies. He gets to his feet and stretches. He then nods in Yuu’s direction. “They said they’d be fine, but I don’t know. I think they might blow up the place if we don’t check on them.”

Deuce already knows what to do. He clips his Magipen to his jacket, straightens his tie, and jumps off the stepladder, sending a crowd of students scrambling away at the sound of impact. Ace laughs loudly at the ridiculous sight. When he starts walking, Deuce steps in line with him until they’re a few feet away from Yuu. That’s when Ace spots the glass jar he’d put on the table beside Yuu. Their back is to him as they hum a melody to themself, wires from their earphones dangling from their shoulder. Ace picks up the very first glass jar he’d taken from Yuu. He turns it around in his hands a few times, its weight seemingly growing every second.

“Do you remember Potions 102 from sophomore year?” Ace mumbles.

“Yeah, why?” Deuce replies.

Illusory magic isn’t always something that is stand-alone. Sometimes it will go hand-in-hand with other catalysts to create the full experience. Ace heard from his brother about mind-altering potions being mixed in with drinks at the concerts to make the lights shows all the more awe-inspiring. Their structures are learned of early in potions class, although their composition can get very complex. It isn’t unheard of to offer one of these potions as an option during high school shows. Whoever came up with the idea of offering a potion like that for their stage show must be rather clever - if the potion composition is good, then it’d be great publicity for Night Raven College. 

Ace remembers, now, one of the potions they’d learned about in sophomore year. It used B612, something Ace hadn’t really been familiar with at the time, its use in earlier classes likely being reduced due to its volatility with the medicinal baobab. Ace doesn’t have the strongest memory so he can’t recall the exact ingredients in the recipe Yuu showed him, but they resemble the potion that Ace now recalls learning in Potions 102. Except the ingredient in the glass jar he’s holding.

Baobab bark.

He looks at Deuce, a dry laugh clawing from his throat. He shakes the jar in front of Deuce’s face. “You know the fancy solution that reacts really strongly with this?”

Deuce takes the jar from Ace’s hand and looks at it before looking up at him in confusion. “… B612?” 

Ace rolls his eyes at the unsure tone Deuce replies to him with. His facial expression then falls flat. He looks at Yuu’s box of alchemy ingredients and Deuce follows his line of sight. It takes a few beats, but then Ace hears him sharply inhale. It can’t be a coincidence that someone arranged those ingredients to be together, and that Yuu is the one mixing them.

“It’d be a real bad stroke of luck if Yuu wasn’t able to make it to whatever ceremony that gets them back home,” Ace remarks. His voice cracks mid-sentence. Head lowered, his expression can’t be seen.

“Ace—” Deuce’s voice shakes, a tinge of panic mixed in what should have been a chiding tone.

Ace raises his head and bursts out into laughter. He wipes a tear from his eyes, shoulder shaking. “Damn, Juice, you really thought I was serious?”

Yuu turns around at the noise and pops out their earphones. “Oh my god. How long were you two just standing there?”

Deuce cuts in, body tense and an arm behind his back. “We just got here. Wanted to see how you’re doing.”

Yuu eyes soften behind their goggles. Smiling, they wave the pair over. “I’m doing just great. Look at this mini cauldron set someone brought over for me. Kind of reminds me of the Bunsen burners they’d break out in class back home.”

Sure enough, Yuu has a smaller cauldron meant for one person set on top of a raised grate being heated by the flame shooting out of a metal rod beneath it. It was likely brought over from the alchemy classroom due to the place already being filled with students cramming for finals or taking classes. 

Deuce’s grip tightens on the jar behind his back for a moment. To Ace’s surprise, his voice falters. “Who brought it over?”

Yuu blinks at the sudden question. “Someone from another class—oh, the one heading over here.”

Ace and Deuce’s heads swivel in the direction that Yuu points and find a purple-vested student with black curls that spill his forehead and frame his face. He walks casually as he approaches them, heeled boots clicking on the dining hall floor. He stops in front of Ace and Deuce, who protectively are blocking his way. 

“Would you be able to hand this to Yuu?” he asks in a surprisingly deep voice. He hands Deuce another glass jar and turns around and walks the other way.

Deuce stands shell-shocked for a few moments, glass jars in either hand. He looks between both of them, one labeled baobab bark and the other with clearly innocuous contents until Yuu’s voice pulls him from his stupor.

“That’s the catalyst I’m looking for,” Yuu says. “Could you hand it over to me?”

Deuce looks at Yuu for a few moments. He thinks about how the corners of Ace’s lips were pulled down just moments ago before he tried to laugh his ‘joke’ off. The right thing to do would be to send Yuu off to their own world, their home, and their family. Deuce doesn’t have any right to keep them here. His heart is pounding in his chest, now, sweat making his hold on the glass in his hands slippery. His eyes flick over to Ace and the redhead raises his eyebrows, gaze lowering to the jar and raising back up to look at Deuce again. 

What Deuce could do is this: hand over the safe ingredient and while Yuu is mixing it in, go and find the person who put together the recipe that could have hurt them. Before the night ends, before Yuu finishes what they’re doing, and before the sweat makes the glass jar slip from his hands, Deuce rushes to Yuu’s side to give them what they need. From behind, Ace raises a hand and calls out his name.

“Deuce—” Ace begins.

When Deuce turns around, Ace lowers his head. “Never mind.”

The glass jar is passed on into Yuu’s grasp before its contents are dumped entirely in the cauldron. Deuce turns heel to start scoping the area for suspicious figures, but it takes a few steps until he realizes he needs to set down what’s in his hand. And when he sets it down, he sees it: the glass jar doesn’t have a label on it. When he turns around, it’s too late. The cauldron has begun to smoke. 

Ace is standing a foot away from Yuu, frozen where he is. His mouth is open as if he were surprised.


	5. ♥

## ???

### Ace’s Heart

Do you remember when we ate an entire cherry pie, just the two of us? Each of us, holding a fork in one hand and our near-bursting stomachs in the other until the silver platter was completely empty of everything but crumbs. 

Maybe you don’t. It was my birthday. 

After all the festivities and everyone went packing, I pulled you into an empty room. I tugged a thin white cloth to the side to uncover a golden-brown cherry pie gleaming with a buttery glaze. Trey had baked it with us in mind. 

I still can’t forget that surprised look you had when I made the reveal. Something mixed with pure joy and genuine shock. I see that on people’s faces pretty often when showing off card tricks. Do I remember any of the others’, though? No. Memorization’s not my thing. Doesn’t stop me from remembering every detail of that expression you had, because I was the one who got you to wear it.

I joked that since it was my birthday I was going to eat it and you would have to sit there and watch. But if I’m honest—when am I not though?—it tasted much better because you were eating it with me. 

I don’t share the things I like with just anyone, you know? I can get along with most people. I’m quick-headed and know how to get by. But just because I can pick something up easily doesn’t mean I want to do it. And just because I had my pick of anyone to have that cherry pie with, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t choose you. 

I’m not an idiot. I know I’m not particularly special to you. Yet still, here I am, hoping you’d stay with me. Even though the most important thing to you will always be a place, and not a person. 

Oh—there’s one more thing I’m not.

I’m not a good person.

But I know you’ll forgive me for it. I like to think that, anyway. 

So please, if I give into myself and hold you back— 

Try to learn to love me anyway.


	6. ♠

## ???

### Deuce’s Heart

The first thing I felt for you—I’ve got to be honest—was a desire to protect. 

I think you’re plenty strong on your own. But isn’t that a weakness in its own? 

You take everything on yourself and hold it all in. I don’t think you know how to ask others for help sometimes. You were sent here all by yourself and still move forward, never looking back. 

Time to time, the thought of you comes bubbling up to the front of my mind. Your smile when it’s wide enough for your teeth to peek through, your eyes going soft looking my way, your voice lowering comfortably when talking with me. I don’t mean to, but the corners of my lips always end up pulling up remembering. I look at you enough to know that the only other person you give that treatment is Ace. 

Sometimes I feel homesick—missing my home and mom. Then all it takes is me remembering you being all on your lonesome in that rundown (sorry) building. You push me to be strong. I’m proud to be your friend, and I’m even prouder when you choose to lean on me. Sometimes in exchange for a cafe latte, but that’s a matter of course.

But I think I feel something more for you. You’re special to me, more than others. When you smile at me I seem to forget about everything else. I want to see you as much as possible. When you’re away, I’m thinking about the next time we’ll see each other. That’s not what friends feel for each other. I think of you as something more, something I still need to figure out. I need time.

I have to say it. I can’t stand the thought that all this while, there was a countdown to how long we’d be seeing each other. 

I didn’t doubt for a second that you’d be around to watch me become the person I want to be. Now I see how stupid that was. You have to go, I know. And I get this is the best thing for you. 

I do—I really do.

But I don’t know if I have it in me to want the best for you when it’s the worst for me.


End file.
